Schools of Excellence: The No. 1 ECE & Private School Leadership Podcast

Chanie Wilschanski

If you are an Early Childhood director or childcare owner, prepare to transform your school and life with the Schools of Excellence podcast. Tune in each week to learn from Chanie Wilschanski, the founder and host of the Schools of Excellence Podcast and a mom of 4 kids. Each episode will be packed with tools and strategies - equipping school leaders to improve staff retention, increase teacher motivation, grow parent partnerships, create a collaborative culture, and enjoy a beautiful quality of life. Every week, Chanie shares the truth about childcare and early childhood school leadership for those striving towards excellence. If you are an early childhood or childcare school leader looking for strategies to grow your school, that are working TODAY, The Schools of Excellence Podcast is for you. In addition to weekly solo episodes, she'll also be inviting childcare and early childhood industry leaders to discuss the most pressing issues facing school leaders today. Don't miss an episode; subscribe today for everything you need for your school leadership journey!

  1. vor 3 Tagen

    Your Staff Schedule Needs an Audit

    Your staff is the biggest line item in your budget. Which also means your schedule can be the biggest leak in your school, and most leaders don't even know it's happening. In this episode, Chanie is breaking down schedule efficiency: not "do you have enough staff," but do you have a strategic coverage system. She walks through a real audit where a single scheduling fix uncovered nearly $30,000 a year in savings, and why chasing more enrollment isn't always the answer when the leak is sitting in your own schedule. This episode covers strategic coverage versus just having bodies in the building, why schedule predictability is a leadership standard and not a luxury, why break coverage is actually a culture issue, and why directors who keep jumping into classrooms are quietly stealing from their own school's profitability. In this episode, you'll learn: The difference between strategic coverage and coverage for the sake of coverageHow a 20-minute daily shift overlap across 20 teachers added up to $27,733 a year in one real auditWhy systems need to be designed around the school, not around whichever person is currently running themWhy schedule predictability is a leadership standard, not a nice-to-haveWhy break coverage is a culture issue, and how a late break erodes trust between teachersWhy directors and owners who regularly cover classrooms are unintentionally hurting their school's profitability Connect With Us: Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/

  2. vor 5 Tagen

    The Community Habit Every School Leader Needs

    What if the thing that finally moves the needle in your school isn't a new system, but a phone call? This is the final episode in our three-part series on the power of community, and today we're bringing it all together: thriving together, the strength of collective wellness. We're talking about how the people you surround yourself with shape your health, your growth, your business, and honestly, your whole trajectory as a leader. I open with a quote from Jim Rohn: you are the average of the five people you spend the most time around. And once you sit with that for a second, it explains so much — why the mindset in the room rubs off on you, why a struggling season can start to feel “normal,” and why getting around leaders who are further ahead can shift everything without you doing anything differently at all. I walk through real, specific examples of what that's looked like inside our own community: a member who sold her school to another member she met inside the program, a director who got connected to her next regional manager role after a cross-country move, a leader who was saved from a construction nightmare by another member's architect referral. None of these people joined community hoping for those outcomes. That's exactly the point. What You'll Learn In This Episode: Why the five people you spend the most time with shape your beliefs, habits, and results — whether you're aware of it or notThe difference between a community that creates collective wellness and one that spreads collective distressWhy “your network is your net worth” isn't just a nice phrase — it's access to opportunities, knowledge, credibility, and long-term relationshipsA simple travel habit that keeps you exposed to new ideas outside your usual laneReal, anonymized stories of what happens when school leaders build genuine community — from business sales to job placements to saved timelinesWhy investing in community without an immediate ROI is still worth it — and why waiting until you're desperate is the wrong move Connect With Us: Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/

  3. 27. Aug.

    How Global Connections Create Local Impact

    Have you ever sat in a staff meeting and realized it's the same three people talking every single time? That's not community. That's a room full of people who've learned it's safer to stay quiet. This week I'm back with Part 2 of our series on the power of community, and today we're going Beyond Borders. I'm talking about how the connections you build, whether that's at a conference, in your staff meeting, or inside an online community, ripple out into real, local impact at your school. We're talking about why dissent is actually a sign of a healthy team, why the best ideas rarely come from the stage, and why community might be the most underrated retention driver you're not tracking. What You'll Learn Why the best ideas at any event happen in the hallway, not on the stageThe real reason your staff meeting might be missing true community, even with a diverse team in the roomWhy "strong opinions, held loosely" might be the most useful leadership mindset you adopt this yearHow silencing dissent on your team quietly erodes trust (and retention)Why the same two teachers arriving late need two completely different responses from youPractical, low-pressure ways to build community even if events aren't your thing right now Connect With Us: Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/

  4. 25. Aug.

    Why You Feel Lonely Even With a Full Building

    You've got hundreds of kids in the building, dozens of teachers on your team, and parents lined up at pickup every single day. So why do you still feel completely alone? This week, I'm kicking off a brand new three-part series on the podcast all about the power of community, because nourishing the human spirit is just as important as nourishing your business. In this first episode, we're talking about embracing connection, the heartbeat of everything else we'll cover in this series. I've been running Schools of Excellence since 2016, and if there's one thing I hear over and over from leaders in our world, it's "I want relationships, I want connection, I want friends." And yet, so many of us are painfully slow to actually take the steps it takes to build them. It sounds simple. Go make friends. But in the season of life so many of you are in right now, it's genuinely hard. So today, I'm unpacking why community matters beyond just feeling nice, the real benefits it brings to your emotional and mental wellbeing, and the sneaky ways so many of us isolate ourselves without even realizing it's happening. This isn't about willpower. It's about recognizing the patterns and making one small first step back toward connection. What You'll Learn: Why humans need community for emotional survival, even though we no longer need it for physical survivalThe four real benefits community offers: emotional support, mental stimulation, a sense of belonging, and shared resources and skillsFive circumstances (not choices) that quietly isolate leaders without them realizing itWhat happens to your thinking and your decision-making when you stay isolated for too longA simple, low-pressure first step you can take today to rebuild connection Connect With Us: Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/

  5. 20. Aug.

    The Identity You Have to Grieve to Lead Well

    LaShawn Bridges has run Blessed Beginnings Learning Center in Detroit for 27 years. She's been through a recession. She's been through COVID. And she'll tell you the hardest season of her whole career wasn't either of those. It was learning how to stop being everyone's answer. I love bringing owners into this space because the shape of the story tends to rhyme, even when the details don't. LaShawn came to me in survival mode. She had policies. She had procedures. She had disciplinary systems on paper. And she still couldn't leave her building without holding her breath. This conversation is about what happens on the other side of that. Not a personality transplant, not a quick fix, just the slow, sometimes grief-soaked work of installing infrastructure and watching who you become because of it. We talk about the identity LaShawn had to grieve to become the anchored, accountable leader she is now. We talk about what chronic over-functioning cost her physically and mentally. And we talk about what changed in her marriage, her relationship with her adult daughters, and her families, once she stopped being the fixer for everyone in her orbit. If you've ever felt guilty for wanting quiet, or scared that letting something break means you've failed, this one is for you. What You'll LearnWhy LaShawn describes her old leadership style as “survival mode” even with systems already on paperThe identity she had to grieve in order to become an anchored, accountable leaderWhat chronic over-functioning cost her physically, and how her body told her before her mind caught upThe phrase she repeats to herself to stop absorbing problems that aren't hers to holdHow she rebuilt her calendar so staff issues stop landing on her desk in real timeThe weekly rhythm that changed her marriage after 27 years togetherWhy she now sees failure as a healthy, necessary part of building a business that runs without herHow she defines excellence, for her team, her families, and herself Resources MentionedChanie's book, This Can't Be Normal: https://thiscantbenormal.com Download Chapter One for Free: https://thiscantbenormal.com/chapter-one Connect With Us: Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/

  6. 18. Aug.

    The 4 Silent Saboteurs of Enrollment

    You gave the perfect tour. The parent loved everything. And then they enrolled somewhere else. If that scenario makes you want to scream into a pillow, this episode is for you. In today's episode, I'm walking you through the four silent saboteurs quietly costing you enrollment: the first impression gap, the trust signals your team is missing, the confidence gap, and the follow-through factor. None of these have anything to do with your program quality. All of them have everything to do with how you communicate it. I share real stories from schools I've worked with, including a director who couldn't figure out why her inquiry-to-tour ratio was so low (spoiler: it wasn't her facility), and why "we'll think about it" almost never means what you think it means. What You'll LearnWhy parents form their opinion of your school long before they ever call or tourThe exact phrases that unintentionally signal "you're just like everyone else" to a touring familyWhat parents are really asking when they ask about your schedule, your rates, or your teacher retentionWhy confident answers beat perfect answers every single timeHow to build genuine confidence in a team member who feels awkward or unsure in front of familiesThe follow-up mistake that quietly hands enrollments to your competitors Connect With Us: Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/

  7. 13. Aug.

    Why Enrollment Can't Be One Person's Job

    I want you to think about the last stack of unanswered inquiries sitting in your inbox. The missed calls. The tour you meant to follow up on three days ago. If you're a school leader who feels like you're working harder than ever and your enrollment numbers still won't budge, this episode is for you. I've audited hundreds of school leader schedules over the years, and here's what I keep finding. The schools that are full, the ones with waitlists and a reputation that does the marketing for them, aren't winning because of a bigger budget or a better location. They're winning because of how they structure their day. I tell a story in this episode about a multi-site leadership team I worked with. Six locations, each one needing to enroll seven to ten kids, which meant they were staring down sixty enrollments they needed to fill. When I asked each director what she was doing to drive enrollment, the answers broke my heart. One had changed the answering machine message. Another rearranged the front desk. Someone updated the website fonts. None of that is enrollment activity. None of it is close to the cash. So in this episode, I walk you through what I call the Daily Profit Plan, four frameworks that separate the schools spinning their wheels from the schools that are full. This isn't about doing more. It's about doing the things that actually move the needle, and building a rhythm around them so they don't get pushed aside every time something urgent shows up. What You'll Learn Why "activities closest to the cash" matter more than busyness, and how to tell the differenceHow to protect enrollment time so it doesn't get swallowed by the daily fire drillsWhy generic follow-up scripts fail, and what a tiered follow-up system actually looks likeHow to turn your current families into a natural referral network without feeling pushyWhy enrollment can't live on one person's shoulders, and what happens when it does (including a real story about a nearly $50,000 mistake)What it actually takes to make your whole team enrollment ambassadors, not just your front desk Connect With Us: Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/

  8. 11. Aug.

    Decode Your Parents to Fill Your School

    You don't have one type of parent in your school. You have three, four, maybe five. And if your marketing, your website, and your enrollment tours are all speaking to the same imaginary "average" parent, that's exactly why some of your best families are scrolling right past you. In this episode, Chanie breaks down the Parent Archetype framework, a structured way to figure out who is actually enrolling in your center, what they care about, and how to stop guessing at your marketing and start speaking directly to the families in front of you. This is the enrollment conversation most schools skip. Everyone wants to talk about Facebook ads, website redesigns, and getting more Google reviews. Chanie makes the case that none of that works until you understand the data underneath it: who your parents actually are, what they actually value, and why they actually choose you. Whether you're short on enrollment, sitting on a full waitlist, or just want a marketing strategy that finally makes sense, this episode gives you the foundation everything else is built on. What You'll LearnWhy enrollment is "the lifeblood of your business" no matter what season you're inThe five data collection methods to understand your actual parent population (not who you assume they are)The exact demographic categories to track, from family structure to decision-making styleWhy online reviews mean almost nothing to certain parent avatars, and everything to othersFive real parent archetypes Chanie uses with clients: Career-Focused, Highly Involved, First-Time, Multicultural, and Grandparent GuardianHow to validate your avatars once you've built themWhy throwing money at Facebook ads won't fix an enrollment problem rooted in bad messaging Connect With Us: Join us on Substack: https://chaniewilschanski.substack.com/

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If you are an Early Childhood director or childcare owner, prepare to transform your school and life with the Schools of Excellence podcast. Tune in each week to learn from Chanie Wilschanski, the founder and host of the Schools of Excellence Podcast and a mom of 4 kids. Each episode will be packed with tools and strategies - equipping school leaders to improve staff retention, increase teacher motivation, grow parent partnerships, create a collaborative culture, and enjoy a beautiful quality of life. Every week, Chanie shares the truth about childcare and early childhood school leadership for those striving towards excellence. If you are an early childhood or childcare school leader looking for strategies to grow your school, that are working TODAY, The Schools of Excellence Podcast is for you. In addition to weekly solo episodes, she'll also be inviting childcare and early childhood industry leaders to discuss the most pressing issues facing school leaders today. Don't miss an episode; subscribe today for everything you need for your school leadership journey!

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